Blown out reds?

[Mechoption]

So I'm reasonably well versed with blown out highlights, but I had no idea you could blow out specific colours? In the picture below, the red tulips are just red (no shades of red). I'm guessing that should this happen again, I should be shooting a stop or two down and underexpose to get the full range? (Then if I want the flowers plus the background, some kind of HDR shot would be in order). Does this reasoning make sense?

[dougsmit]

The background/sky here would not suffer from a bit less exposure which might bring in more red detail. Red is an easy color to blow so such a shot would be best shot RAW and converted with retaining red detail in mind.

[Songman45]

is your camera also set to "vivid" or otherwise sharpening? It might be overdoing the very vibrant reds. Just a queston.

[Mechoption]

Originally Posted by Songman45

is your camera also set to "vivid" or otherwise sharpening? It might be overdoing the very vibrant reds. Just a queston.

Ah, good point - I'm a noob with these settings and had to do some research before replying.

I just use the default settings which is one 'stop' up on sharpness, contrast and saturation, and in the middle for color tone - which would have caused these blown out reds - in hindsight a stop down on saturation would have kept the reds in check.

Does anyone have recommended settings for these? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I shoot raw these would have no effect? (although I currently shoot jpeg I am starting to shoot the occasinal RAW shot when I think I have a sweet shot)

[ohenry]

RAW does have a bit more latitude with regards to the brighter areas, plus it has the ability to recover highlights when only one channel (red) is blown. Bottom line is that you overexposed your image. It can be seen, not only by the intense red highlights lost, but the washed out colors in the grass and sky.